


On the Matter of Magic

by tablelamp



Category: Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Gen, Modern Era, Sisterly conversations, Urban Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-06-29 17:19:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19834942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tablelamp/pseuds/tablelamp
Summary: Lizzy looked up from her law textbook as Lydia came in through the front door. "You're home late."Lydia gave her sister a dreamy smile. "I was watching football practice. There's nothing as wonderful as fit young men in their uniforms."





	On the Matter of Magic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Highsmith (quimtessence)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/quimtessence/gifts).



Lizzy looked up from her law textbook as Lydia came in through the front door. "You're home late."

Lydia gave her sister a dreamy smile. "I was watching football practice. There's nothing as wonderful as fit young men in their uniforms." She flopped onto the sofa, looking perfectly satisfied. "I may stay again tomorrow. They're all so friendly. Ben came to the fence to talk to me. He pretended he wanted to know what chapters to read for history, but he's not nearly as subtle as he thinks. I know he likes me. He asked me to give him enough magic to turn his car red, which of course I did."

Lizzy, who was used to Lydia's effusiveness and had only been half-listening to this point, looked at her in surprise. "You gave him your magic?"

"Of course I did. He asked nicely," Lydia said with a giggle. "And then I had to wait for him to use it so I could see what the car looked like. He picked the loveliest shade of deep red, Lizzy. You should've seen it."

Lizzy sighed, setting aside her book. She didn't think Lydia would listen, but she had to say something anyway. "You need to be careful."

Lydia rolled her eyes. "You worry too much."

Lizzy was of the opinion that Lydia didn't worry enough. "If you lend too much of your magic--"

"I know, I know," Lydia said dismissively. "Your magic's shared between you and that person, whether they have magic or not, and they can use as much of it as they like. They said that at school."

"And did they say how difficult it is to stop sharing your magic once you've started?" Lizzy asked. "Unless you're very rich and can hire a specialist mage, once you've shared it, it stays shared."

Lydia shrugged. "I think Ben would like having magic."

"I'm sure he would, but what if you and Ben don't end up in the same place? Would you want your ability to cast magic to depend on whether or not Ben used it all that day?"

"He couldn't use it all," Lydia said, utterly blase. "I've got too much."

Lizzy thought this was probably true, although not in the way Lydia meant it. Lydia did have the most magic of any of the five of them, and Lizzy had never once seen Lydia come to the end of a day exhausted with magic use the way she sometimes was. "I'm asking you to think about this."

Lydia pouted. "You never want me to have any fun."

This was the trouble with trying to have a serious conversation with Lydia; she never paid attention to what anyone was saying unless that someone was attractive and in footie kit. "I'm not against you having fun. I don't want you to lose your magic. You study history. Think of what happened to Wallis Simpson."

"Lizzy, that was a hundred years ago," Lydia said. "Besides, I think it's better that she did share her magic with Edward whatever-number-he-was. Better that than Dad hoarding his so Mum can't have any."

Lizzy was of two minds about that. Her father only had a small amount of magic, an amount that she suspected could be used up by their mother with very little effort. However, she knew how much having any magic would mean to her mother, and wondered what it meant that either such a thing had never occurred to her father, or that it had occurred to him but he hadn't considered the thought important enough to act upon. Lizzy loved her father, but she didn't always understand everything he did. "You're changing the subject."

"I'm not," Lydia said. "I don't want to be Dad and lock my magic away from everyone else forever. It's not fair."

Lizzy nodded. "I understand, and I'm not asking you to do that. But I'd hate to see you and your magic get tangled up with someone you found out you didn't like."

"That's silly, Lizzy. I don't give any to people I don't like," Lydia said.

"No, of course you don't," Lizzy said wearily. She should've known better than to expect Lydia to listen. It was no use telling her something was important; she had to decide it was important for herself before she could be convinced to care about it. "I just want you to make sure you can trust anyone you give magic to."

"Of course I can," Lydia said. "I wouldn't give them magic if I couldn't. I'm going to tell Kitty about the footballers and Ben. She likes him almost as much as I do. If I stay late tomorrow, maybe I can get her to stay with me. And I'm sure she'd like to see his car." She left the room.

Lizzy wasn't sure which was worse--having Lydia mostly ignore what she said, or having Kitty, who spent most of her time with Lydia, become horribly affronted when Lizzy dared to give her advice. Neither response was exactly what she hoped for, but she should've learned by now that was all she would get.

Lizzy had tried to get her parents to talk to her younger sisters about being careful with their magic, but she suspected it was a lost cause. Her mother, never having had any magic, loved to see the admittedly impressive things Lydia could do with her illusion magic; Lydia, in turn, was delighted to show off, and did so at every available opportunity. Losing or being drained of one's magic didn't seem like a serious threat to her mother because she'd never had any to lose, and she considered having magic to be an uncomplicated good thing. Lizzy's father, on the other hand, knew the dangers of losing one's magic but refused to take anything seriously on general principle. He had told Lizzy that he didn't think Lydia's foolishness would amount to much because she lacked the imagination to do anything truly terrible with her magic, and no amount of counterargument from Lizzy could make him think otherwise.

Once in a while Lizzy thought illusion magic seemed more fun than truth magic. She'd like to be able to make an old dress look like a new one, or to change the colour of her hair without needing to spend any money. Then again, there was quite a strong prejudice against people with illusion magic becoming barristers, as there had been several scandals in the 1800s involving barristers creating illusory versions of their clients that sat silently in the courtroom while the real clients fled the country. By contrast, Lizzy's truth magic would be an asset in a courtroom when she finished her legal training, and she liked that about it.

She worried about Lydia, though. She supposed that was just something older sisters did, and wondered if other older sisters had any better luck with it than she had.

Ah well. Back to reading.


End file.
